MEN'S SOCCER OPENS '09 HERE FRIDAY VS. CSU SAN MARCOSSeason two of the Jon Pascale Era of UCSD Men's Soccer commences Friday night as the Tritons host local foe Cal State San Marcos...Pascale's rookie year in La Jolla resulted in his feisty team posting a 10-6-2 mark that included a tie against eventual NCAA Division II champion Cal State Dominguez Hills...The Tritons, tabbed for third in the CCAA South Division by loop coaches will return 14 players from the '08 side, including goalkeeper Peter Akman and defender Jared Kukura, both All-CCAA choices.

The opener will be a re-match of one of last fall's most entertaining clashes...In that one, San Marcos seemed to have the verdict in hand after tallying on a penalty kick with four minutes left but a goal by UCSD's Aaron McDowell tied it and Kukura's highlight reel header with 40 seconds remaining gave the Tritons an improbable victory.

WOMEN'S SOCCER KICKS OFF 2009 AT HOME SATURDAYWith just one senior and two juniors on his squad, Women's Soccer Coach Brian McManus opens the 2009 season against Central Washington Saturday night with the youngest roster in his illustrious 23-year career at UCSD...McManus will be able to rely on junior Lisa Bradley and sophomores Anne Wethe and Sara Bolton, each an all-conference selection on UCSD's 15-4-4, CCAA title team of last fall.

Since 1987, UCSD has gone 20-0-1in season openers, including last year's, 2-0, triumph at Central Washington...In a pre-season poll of the conference coaches, the Tritons were picked to win the CCAA's South Division for the ninth straight time, as well as the CCAA Championship Tournament...Central Washington, 10-7-3 a season ago and picked for third in this year's Great Northwest Athletic Conference race, return eight starters.

CROSS COUNTRY DEBUTS AT HOME SATURDAYCoach Nate Garcia will open his second season at the helm of the Cross Country team when he sends his charges out against Point Loma, UNLV and Sonoma State in a four-way meet Saturday morning on the campus course. The women will go 2.5 miles at 9:00 AM followed by the four-mile men's race.

The women will be led by sophomore Bre Schofield, a returning All-American...She will get support from a surging sophomore group headed by Elena Inouye and Aaryn Kobiayashi...With senior Jesse Morrill redshirting, leadership on the men's side will fall to seniors Max Mullender and Mike Wright and Garcia has seen good things in training out of the underclassmen on his squad.

MICHIGAN TOURNEY FIRST TEST FOR WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALLNever one to shy about from a challenge, fifth-year Head Coach Tom Black takes his Women's Volleyball team to the Midwest this weekend, jump-starting 2009 at the Wildcat Open in Marquette, MI...The Tritons, 21-7 and second in the CCAA a year ago, will face four Division II rivals-Winona State and St. Cloud State Friday then on Saturday, a pair of 2008 NCAA Playoff teams, Minnesota-Duluth and host Michigan Tech.

All-American Rebecca Bailey has graduated, but Black will still have plenty of weapons at his disposal...Senior setter Elaine Chen (1,010 assists and 47 aces in '08) is back at the controls of the offense which will be spearheaded by first team All-CCAA middle blocker Sylvia Schmidt (264 kills)...Among the other notables is outside hitter Hillary Williamson, the 2008 CCAA Freshman of the Year.

NEWS & NOTESThe Men's Water Polo team opened training last Wednesday, less than two weeks after returning from a club trip to Hawaii...Coach Denny Harper's club, led by seniors Steven Donohoe (56 goals in 2008), Peter Gresham and Sean Roberts, hosts the annual season-opening Triton Invitational, Sept. 4-5.

Softball Coach Patti Gerckens has added Julie Vergenz to her coaching staff to replace Bridget McKay, who resigned earlier this summer...A collegiate player at Oklahoma State, Vergenz was formerly the head coach at University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO).

Men's Tennis standout Vincent Nguyen and recently graduated Triton Women's Tennis star Ina Dan will be honored next week in New York City as NCAA Division II winners of the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship...The presentations are scheduled for Saturday in conjunction with the Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the U.S. Open Championship.

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